The Aude combines the city of Carcassonne, the so-called Cathar castles, the Canal du Midi, the Corbières and the coast. Medieval heritage and vineyard landscapes dominate.
This itinerary spreads the best-rated sites in the catalogue over three days.
The map shows the numbered stops in visiting order, with one colour per day. The line follows the roads where available; otherwise it joins the stops as the crow flies. Distances and times are approximate (by car, without traffic).
This day brings together 4 sites close to each other: castles, villages and caves. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
It is from the modern bridge spanning the Aude that you should discover the city of Carcassonne. And if possible when the setting sun tints with golden-glinting pinkish grey its geometry, both elegant and complex.
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A fortified medieval town, with the history of the crusade against the Albigensians, the still-inhabited Cité de Carcassonne lies on the right bank of the Aude.
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Overlooking the little village of Cabrespine in the Aude département, near the Pic de Nore, highest point of the Montagne Noire, the Gouffre Géant de Cabrespine is one of the largest caves in the world open to tourism.
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The Pic de Nore is the highest point of the Montagne Noire (1,210 m), a southern balcony of the Cévennes.
View full page →This day brings together 3 sites close to each other: villages, natural wonders and waterfalls. It passes through Le Somail. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
The village houses a heritage of incredible historical richness: around the bend of medieval lanes you discover façades of mansions from the eleventh to the eighteenth century.
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Shaded by its century-old plane trees, the hamlet of Le Somail is one of the most picturesque stops on the Canal du Midi, a seventeenth-century engineering masterpiece listed by UNESCO.
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In the heart of the Massif de la Clape, the impressive Gouffre de l'Œil Doux is discovered in a green setting and offers walkers an unexpected spectacle.
View full page →This day brings together 5 sites close to each other: castles and waterfalls. Allow half an hour to an hour and a half per site, plus travel time.
They take their name from the gorges of "fright".
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At six hundred metres' altitude, on top of the hill overlooking the village to the east, firmly set on its "pech" in the middle of a vast cirque crowned with firs, the feudal castle of Puivert (Puyvert – Puy-Verd) outlines its proud keep and dismantled walls.
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The Aude, rushing down the Pyrenees from its source in the Capcir, has carved a series of majestic canyons in the limestone: the Saint-Georges gorges and above all those of Pierre-Lys.
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On the departmental boundary of the Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales, Puilaurens long remained the southernmost fortress of the kingdom of France.
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"It is to be known that in the Marches, on this side of the Aragon frontier, is the City of Carcassonne, which is the mother and has five sons, namely Puilaurens, Aguilar, Quéribus, Termes and Peyrepertuse".
View full page →Spring and autumn are ideal. Summer is hot and busier. Winter is quiet, with sites sometimes closed.
A car is essential for the castles, often perched and far apart. Carcassonne is explored on foot. Some access routes to the castles involve walking.
A lock on the Cabardès since the early Middle Ages, the Lastours site is an exceptional ensemble with its four castles built at 300 metres' altitude, on top of a rocky spur.
The cavity is a cave in its natural state without artificial lighting. Visits are made in small groups over a day or half a day.
It is in the commune of Cucugnan, a Corbières village immortalised by Alphonse Daudet in the sermon of his famous priest, that Quéribus castle stands.
It is the largest developed cave in the Cathar Aude. This cave has the advantage of offering you, in its particular site, the most beautiful fine concretions that it is currently possible to see in a developed cave: calcite and aragonite crystals, eccentrics, soda straws...
The abbey of Lagrasse was founded in the eighth century in the Orbieu valley and, located on the Spanish marches of the Carolingian kingdom, played a particularly important role.
Near the village of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse, after a short trip along a road lined with vines, the Verdouble gorges, known as "Les Cascades", offer a dazzling spectacle in a picturesque setting.